Monday, June 10, 2013

What a wonderful time I had reading all of your winter traditions. I really loved getting a teeny glimpse into your lives and how you celebrate with your families. Thank you for sharing with me! I have some wonderful ideas for fun new things to incorporate into our traditions here in Texas. :)

I've finished my Sweet Tweets quilt and as soon as I can get some pictures taken I'll post some shots. I'm so happy with how it turned out (minus all the cat hair Dexter and Fiona deposited on it while I was pinning it for quilting...note to self: do not forget to remove kitty hair from quilt prior to photography...)

Without further ado! Congratulations to the two winners of the giveaway (via random number generator):

Johanna #12
We don't have any "unique" traditions. My favorite though is leaving cookies out for Santa on a special plate with chocolate milk. I LOVE those cardinals! They have been my favorite since I was probably three.

B Greene #49
I have a little white Christmas tree (an extra) that I usually decorate with my late grandmother's earrings as ornaments and beaded necklaces as garlands. We first did this when my husband was deployed and I couldn't face getting everything down from the attic alone. It was really , really pretty and a nice way to have her memory with us at Christmas. Love the new fabric line - I need to make some Christmas goodies, so this would be perfect!

Everyone have a great week! Oh... and I'll be postings some sneak peeks of TWO more new lines shipping this fall. Think kitchen and sewing room!!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

A few weeks ago, the UPS man showed up with my yardage of my newest line for Robert Kaufman, Holiday Sweet Tweets. And I have been absolutely itching to sew with it. So, the weekend before last, I pretty much barricaded myself in my sewing studio and cut, sewed, cut, sewed and fondled fabric to my hearts content. I had hoped to finish the quilt over the weekend but I'm just not fast enough. I did get the whole quilt top finished though, pinned and started the quilting. Yahoo!

The top is inspired by Ashley's (from Film in the Fridge) Picnic Stripes quilt (way back from 2009) and I am so delighted with the way the piecing turned out on my own Holiday Sweet Tweets version. I've included a few WIP shots below. I was able to use my all time favorite circles from my Modern Whimsy collection (stash of that is becoming dangerously low so am hoarding it like crazy) as well as some pretty solids and other goodies from my stash.

Sweet Tweets comes in two color stories and I am so delighted to get to work on holiday goodies using navy, yellow and pink. The little peppermint footstools just make me smile every time I see them. And I have a special place in my heart for cardinals so it just makes me so happy to get to sew with this line.

I think I love the diamonds pattern from the line more and more every time I look at them.

And I took a page from my IG pal Julie's (@chickenjulie) book and worked a big piece of selvage from the line into the quilt back. I stitched it straight line and then reinforced with zig zag to make sure that narrow little seam holds up. Hoping to get the rest of the quilting done in the next week or so and I'll make sure to share pictures as soon as I can. (I have determined I *might* detest the quilting process. Piecing I love. Quilting not so much. All that tugging and dragging a giant thing around on a tiny machine. Blech. I have nothing but admiration for those of you who do such beautiful quilting work!! I have no idea how you do it! Mine is just a hot mess. Maybe I just need to finish this one off but plan to rent time on a long arm machine for future projects...)

Partridges and cardinals!

Holiday Sweet Tweets has started shipping and will be making its way to stores this month and next, so get your holiday project list prepped and I hope you might find a way to work some little peppermint footstools into your plans!

In the mean time, I have 2 FQ bundles (1 in each color story) cut and ready for two of you! Just leave me a comment here before the morning of Monday June 10, 2013. (As always, international entries welcome and make sure you leave me a way to contact you!) In your comment, I'd love to hear about a winter holiday tradition you share with your family. I think it would be fun to bring a new tradition into my own family's celebration and it would be a blast to have learned about it from you!